Amidst all the exciting discussions of how to deepen student learning with digital and online tools is a much less exciting, but equally important question about how to schools pay for the expensive infrastructure like bandwidth, wireless networks, and basic internet connections central to new teaching methods. The federal government recognized this need in 1996 when the internet was in its infancy, creating the Universal Service Program for Schools and Libraries, or E-rate, to help schools and libraries connect to the internet. The program funds the connectivity needs of the majority of public schools and libraries.

Now, the Federal Communications Commission is working to rewrite the E-rate program guidelines to better suit the emerging needs of today’s school environment. The changes are welcome news to harried school technology experts tasked with estimating a school’s needs more than a year in advance and applying for federal funds through the cumbersome E-rate application process.

“The key is to have an eligible services framework that’s broad enough, provides some guidelines, but doesn’t hard wire or define it so much that it’s tied down to one type of technology.”

In 2013, the program had $2.4 billion dollars to give out and received requests totaling $4.9 billion. “Demand has exceeded the E-rate cap every year since the program’s inception,” notes the FCC’s website on E-rate basics.

Given the success of the E-rate program in getting internet connections to schools around the country and the increasing need for technology in classrooms, many educators would like to see the program funded at higher levels. “It is simply insufficient to meet school and library demands 15 years later,” Calcasieu Parish Chief Technology Officer Sheryl Abshire told a Senate committee recently. “In my opinion we need a permanent increase in funding.” Despite these calls, the first draft of the new regulations does not indicate there will be more funds.

Instead, the FCC has started by focusing on streamlining the existing program to better use currently available funds. “There’s a real recognition that using the current pricing models, it’s very difficult to achieve the President’s goals of getting all these students connected at the speeds they want,” said John Harrington, CEO of Funds for Learning, an e-rate consulting company. His business helps school districts wade through the paperwork and reporting requirements for e-rate applications. “It’s very frustrating to watch schools get funded for only half a project,” he said when describing his wish to see the program improved.

One way the FCC hopes to improve the program’s cost effectiveness is to help schools buy in bulk, organizing group purchasing agreements. Harrington also thinks there are ways to build cost-savings incentives into the program. High on his list is doing away with the priority system that dominates E-rate funding.

When the federal program was set up in the late 90s the chief goal was to provide connectivity to all schools, so telecommunications, telecommunications services and internet connections got first priority and the neediest schools got higher discounts. Requests for computer wiring needed to connect classrooms to the internet or wireless networks would be considered a second-tier priority. With current technology, many schools need these second-tier infrastructure upgrades badly, and in some cases the first priority projects are no longer the most cost-effective or appropriate way to achieve universal connectivity.

“The key is to have an eligible services framework that’s broad enough, provides some guidelines, but doesn’t hard wire or define it so much that it’s tied down to one type of technology,” Harrington said. He’s especially worried that if the new regulations are too prescriptive, they won’t move with the pace of technological innovation.

Another big theme of the FCC rewrite is to streamline the application process and get funds out to schools much more quickly. “That by itself will be revolutionary,” Harrington said. Right now, schools can wait up to a year and a half to find out if they will receive the funds requested, making it hard to plan and rollout new initiatives like a one-to-one tablet or computer program.

The FCC is also focused on collecting more comprehensive data on how E-rate funds are being used by schools. While the grants given out are documented, there’s no good way to know just how connected a school is or how various programs are being deployed.

Lastly, the FCC is trying to move the whole process online. Right now, some parts of the E-rate application must be filed on paper, a throwback to 1996 when legislators wanted to ensure that schools without internet access could apply to get it. Now, that concern is less pertinent and digitizing the application process will speed up processing times and hopefully ease the burden of applying.

President Obama has directed the FCC to move forward with the rule-making process, but this first draft is not official. In fact, the FCC lays out several ways some of the big questions could be addressed and is soliciting feedback from educators on how to best improve the program.

Still, the goal is to finish reworking the program by the end of the year so the new guidelines can be used in the next funding round. After that, perhaps E-rate advocates will pursue additional funding from Congress to bolster the important program.

If Project K-Nect is proof that at-risk kids benefit from access to smart phones (many of them, the founder Shawn Gross says, have gone on to take Advanced Placement math classes), what happens to those who don’t have smart phones?

A reader asks:

My question for the group discussion is that because many of my socio-economically challenged students don’t have the capability to engage in education via smart phone technology, how do I get them to ride the wave too? I am still challenged to get many of them to do any last century style pen and paper academics.

I asked K-Nect’s Gross to elaborate, and here’s his response:

“Statistically, teenagers rank as the fast growing segment for smart phones. As a result, we will see the disparity between the haves and have-nots begin to erode. Nevertheless, a digital divide at some level will always exist. In such cases whereby a student is not able to afford access to these types of devices, school systems need to help subsidize access.

The FCC has taken the first step towards examining providing funding to school systems for use of mobile devices by students off campus. If the program is successful, schools will be able to tap into a very large funding pool to help eliminate some of the inequities.

Finally, regarding the concerning engagement, our research indicates that students feel largely disconnected in math and science when utilizing a 20th century model that encompasses paper and pencil. This is a population that seeks manipulative and multimedia and wants to use social networking as a means from which to solve instructional problems. After all, this is how they solve all of their social problems.”

The FCC reference Gross is eluding to is the $9 million program called “Learning On-the-Go” that will be “piloted in 14 states and will fund wireless broadband for 10 laptop programs, two virtual schools, three handheld device programs,” as well as one program in New Orleans that will “give third through sixth graders access to wireless data cards,” according to ReadWriteWeb.

That’s in near future. Read how teacher Bill Ferriter finds ways to include those who don’t have the phones in his classrooms today.

The program will allow schools to use federal technology funds known as E-rate to hook up to unused fiber optic cables to provide speeds up to 1 Gbps to students and library patrons. The order will also let schools open up their computing facilities to the wider community after school hours.

However, many schools still have relatively thin connections to the net. With the change, a school district could apply to use E-rate funds to lease so-called dark fiber and jump from a 1.5 Mbps connection to a truly fat pipe that would allow students and library patrons to download and upload at speeds that rival or surpass the best speeds currently available.

One of the most interesting of the possible provisions is a plan to better enable learning via mobile computing devices. Many of the folks I talked to for a story about mobile learning in our upcoming issue of Digital Directions said they longed for changes to the E-rate program that would help them expand mobile learning programs using school-issued devices. Currently such devices cannot be taken home if purchased under the E-rate program.